920When writing Bleach stories, something one should ask themselves is 'Where would I play Number One?' It's the main character's theme, and I dare say one of the most widely recognized main character themes in all of anime. It's a very powerful song, most particularly in the thematic impact when it plays. Every time it plays, it should be an equally powerful moment. Whenever I've pondered the question of 'Where would I play Number One', I've inevitably come to one conclusion. To Undo it All is a story about recovery, about a wounded soul being steadily healed. Number One is the theme song of Ichigo Kurosaki, to be played when he is at his best. So, I would have it that Number One only plays once throughout all of To Undo it All, and during the moment when Ichigo is finally, truly, feeling himself.
And thus, we are at Kintsugi. From the initial conception of this story, there were three chapters I already knew I had to do. You all have already seen the first, in "Road to Recovery". Kintsugi is the second. There were some small changes made here and there as the story was written, but the end result is still almost entirely the same. It is here and now that I'd like to inform you all of something that, at the time of writing this chapter, no one has caught onto. I have been holding back on fight scenes for this fic. This was an intentional action made with the purpose of making my audience share in Ichigo's frustration for not being able to experience a proper fight. The closest you all have gotten is the Zombie fight in "Seeing Red", all other fight scenes I have intentionally made shorter and/or less intense than I could have. Such will not be the case here. I hope you all enjoy.
When I stood in front of the entrance to Kukaku's cannon, the realization of what was to come finally truly settled in my head. I was the one who wanted to go, it was only thanks to my clothing made from Senjumaru that we could make the journey, it was even only supposed to be me going up. But, it was just words until just now. Maybe because it had been so long since the last time I could let loose everything I had and fight. Maybe because for so long, I had stopped caring about anything else other than winning and surviving. Maybe because I had forgotten what it was like to truly enjoy myself. But there was a fresh new clarity to it as I was let into Kukaku's cannon alongside Renji, Rukia, Unohana, and Yoruichi. Unohana and Yoruichi were naturally the first to ask to join when I told them of my plan for today, each having the same purpose in it, though with different intents. They wanted to see me at my full power. Though, Yoruichi possessed a passive curiosity that was supported by knowing I would finally get the opportunity to vent. Unohana, in the meanwhile, wanted to see what I looked like when I finally let go of my self-imposed shackles. Rukia and Renji, in opposition, merely discovered that my intent in the Soul Society today was to visit the Royal Palace and asked if I could take them with me. At the incidental reminder, I felt a soft smile begin to form over my face. Something Rukia seemed to notice.
"It's been a while since the last time I saw you smile like that." She mentioned. I glanced down at her.
"…It's been a while since the last time I felt this excited." I revealed. Renji barked out a laugh.
"I know, right? Being able to go up to the Soul Palace? This is gonna be one of the highlights of my life!" Rukia nodded in agreement with the redhead's words, a smile on her own face.
"Indeed. From Rukongai thief to Lieutenant about to meet the Zero Squad? It's like a dream come true." She hugged her body. "I'm practically shaking." I snorted softly, but in truth, I could barely keep my attention on their discussion. Hell, I could barely keep my attention on forming and maintaining the protective barrier. The Old Man had to take up the reins due to my lack of focus, but he wasn't mad. He and Shiro were just as excited as I was, after all. I faintly registered Rukia complimenting the stability of the barrier and teasing Renji about how I was better at Kido than him. From what I could catch out of my peripherals, Unohana and Yoruichi were staring at me.
Rukia's and Renji's conversation turned to white noise, as the anticipation for what was to come became all that I knew. There were some light tremors as the cannon fired and the journey began. I couldn't help the shuddering breath of excitement that escaped my lips as I realized that. We were on our way to the Royal Realm. The home of the Soul King and his Zero Squad. A group of individuals numbering only six, where five of them combined possessed more power than the whole Seireitei, and the last possessed more power than even that. An almost impenetrable palace, which would take a captain a week to journey up to, if they didn't have to break through the barriers and never slowed down. Each of the Zero Squad members had methods of wiping out all of the captains at once, not including Yamamoto. And then there was Ichibe, who was in a league all on his own. In addition to his own incredible power and skill, he possessed a zanpakuto with insane capabilities. I crossed my left arm over my chest and rested my right elbow atop it so I could cover the increasingly savage grin on my face without anybody worrying about it.
It was a realm filled with so much reiatsu that someone without sufficient reiatsu would be crushed just by entering it. Each of the Zero Squad palaces were their own unique forms of torture, from Tenjiro's watery Hells easily capable of killing if the person being healed isn't careful, to Oh Etsu's Asauchi hordes being overwhelming to even the strongest Shinigami if they are deemed unworthy. The 'Blades of the Soul King' were each low captains in terms of strength, and if activated, Senjumaru's traps were everywhere and all extremely dangerous.
It was a dimension filled with and defined by power, an impermeable fortress guarded by the best in each and every field. It was the one place that the Wandenreich couldn't watch, where there were no cameras, no hidden Quincies, and no reason to hide. There were almost no inhabitants, and the few there were, boasted incredible power. There were pools that could recover anyone to full, no matter how close they were to death. Endless amounts of reiatsu-rejuvenating food resided within, and armor with unparalleled capabilities were perpetually designed. There was a temple of wisdom, a cavern to train with your zanpakuto. It was the one place in all the realms where one didn't need to worry about being too strong. The one place where no one had to hold back. The one place, where I could let loose everything. My body itched to move, I had to start pacing around the inside of the cannonball to soothe the need.
It was the one realm that wouldn't become unstable just from me releasing my Bankai. It was the only one where I had nothing to fear from unleashing my full strength. There was no fear of accidentally destroying something. No perpetual caution in case someone was in the way of the blast. No reason to hold back at all. And it housed the only person that could handle it. The one person who could take everything I had to dish out. The one person who could still fight back. The only person in all the worlds that I didn't have to worry about killing.
"Ichigo?" My eyes snapped up at the concerned and slightly nervous-sounding Yoruichi. She was sweating a bit and a shaky smile was wavering on her face. She swallowed uneasily, before continuing to speak. "Could you, uhm, turn the bloodlust down? Just a bit?" I cast my eyes over everyone else. Renji and Rukia were staring at me in horror, shaking in fear with sweat making their clothes stick to their skin. Rukia was leaning against Renji, away from me, and I could see one of Renji's hands grasping her arm hard enough to bruise. His other was white-knuckling Zabimaru's hilt. Rukia's own hands kept creeping up to her throat, checking for something before shaking back down to grasp at Renji's shihakusho. Unohana was biting her lip aggressively, her body shaking in clear excitement. She kept rubbing her thighs together and her eyes were a haze of bloodlust and arousal. She was nearly panting, and trying to keep her hands from going to the hilt of Minazuki.
"…Sorry." I mumbled. "I'll try to keep it in check." Even in the vehicle designed as the only means of transportation to the Royal Realm, it took a while to pass from the Soul Society into the palace of the Soul King. An opinion shared by everyone with me, was that not nearly enough of the journey had passed before Yoruichi caught my attention. Renji and Rukia were as close to the walls as they could be without being injured by the protective spells, emanating fear. It wasn't the horrified disgust that Rukia had expressed when I slaughtered the twins, rather it was the fight-or-flight-inducing terror of feeling psychotic killing intent. I had experienced that before, long ago when I first invaded the Seireitei and felt Kenpachi's eagerness for battle, though I suspected even that was weak compared to mine. His had been a hunger, a craving for battle tinged by the annoyance of knowing he had opponents, he was simply barred from fighting them. It had been the excitement akin to a dog on a leash finally being released.
Mine was different. It was frustration and rage. A coil wound many times too tightly that was breaking apart the container it was kept in. It wasn't the hunger of a dog being kept from chewing on a bone but rather a long starving animal that finally found a morsel of food. It was a monster that was bashing itself against a wall to escape, and watching the wall tremble and crack underneath the assault. It was desperation and maniacal euphoria, and the weight of it all crushed the two of them.
In opposition, though, Unohana relished in it to the point that it became a problem. The one who founded the name Kenpachi, few if any could adore such menacing intent quite as she did. She was practically getting drunk off of it, made further elated by the fact that she had never seen me like this. The Original Captain had witnessed me joyful, ecstatic, relieved, and excited, but never hungry like I was now. Where my bloodlust struck Renji and Rukia like a blade at their necks that made them fear for their lives, Unohana absorbed the blow with the ecstasy of a psychopath who had rediscovered their drug of choice. It was likely the only thing keeping her from drawing her blade and lunging at me right now was the knowledge that my hunger was meant for another.
Yoruichi, the middle ground between the two, was simply nervous. She knew me well enough to be certain I wouldn't attack, but my killing intent was powerful. So much so that the doubt was introduced, and made her wary. Like Unohana, Yoruichi had never witnessed me this eager for a fight, but rather than drinking in it, it made her worry about what was about to happen.
The silence that carried through the rest of the journey was heavy and tense, thick as though we each held a blade to the other's throats. We hit a bump of turbulence and the flinch as Unohana kept herself from swinging at me had Renji and Rukia further cower in the corner while Yoruichi snapped an arm out to lock the medic's wrist in an iron grip. Forcing my own arms down, I stepped forward, calling everyone's eyes onto myself.
"Almost there." Hissed from me. The Shinigami with me all snapped to attention at my words. Yoruichi sent Unohana a warning look, with the blue-eyed woman sending an apologetic one in response. The First Kenpachi's arm was released, and she folded her hands behind her back as a display to comfort the others. Renji shuffled forward half a step, and Rukia shifted back the same amount, with the redhead shielding her slightly. I let them be and turned around so that I faced the door. There was a jolt as the pillar stopped at the landing platform, which had the two Lieutenants scrambling to stand more professionally.
"Don't step out until I tell you it's alright." I ordered. "Squad Zero should be the only ones who can permit others to enter the Royal Palace, the fact that the barriers didn't stop us will only make them more on guard." A tense quiet manifested behind me, one I stopped focusing on the moment the doors opened. The reiatsu of the Royal Palace flooded in instantly, and I heard both Renji and Rukia stumble. With confidence, I strode forward, unaffected by the dramatically denser air. Stronger than it. I stepped out into the light, onto polished wooden board, and my instincts screamed at me before my eyes adjusted. In the instant I had, I analyzed the signatures before me to decipher who was who. Once I understood who was the one to be concerned about, I shifted my feet and leaned slightly to the right. The minute movement had the blade stabbing toward me slide through my left lung rather than the center of my heart. It sliced through easier than a hot knife through butter, fitting for a sword so sharp no sheathe could be made for it. The halberd swung from overhead crashed into the right side of my neck, and the force behind it generated winds that flattened even my girlfriends to the back wall of the Shiba pillar.
"Oh-Etsu." I greeted, acting for all intents and purposes that a sword spearing through one of my lungs was a standard occurrence. "Tenjiro." Behind his sunglasses, I saw the Blade God's eyes blink, all of his attention on my blade and the sensation of my soul. Tenjiro grit his teeth in rage and suppressed anxiety, utterly unwilling to appear concerned to a potential enemy. The list of people who could be entirely unfazed by a strike from him intended to kill was alarmingly short, and having a new name be added was generally not a good thing. To their even greater shock and concern, I began stepping forward against them, successfully pushing them back along the floor. My eyes locked onto the form of the man I was here for, directly ahead with the last two members of the Zero Squad flanking him threateningly. His brush was slung on his back, and his arms crossed over his massive chest, but I wasn't fooled by the façade of nonchalance. He understood even better than I of how dangerous someone of my power level was. The shoes of the two Squad Zero members who had attacked me ground along the wood as I continued walking forward without bothering to remove their weapons from my body.
"Kirio." I nodded as I came closer. "Senjumaru." The Grain King and Great Weaver narrowed their eyes. The first attempt to kill me had failed disastrously, and they were no longer treating me like some unfortunate soul who had gotten extremely lucky. Each of the four Generals were studying me intensely, trying to understand what I was, what my capabilities were, and any and all weaknesses. My stroll continued until I was before my target, and they all let me. You either had to be painfully stupid or worrisomely confident to go directly up to the leader of the Zero Squad, and they all clearly were realizing I was the latter. A brand new silence filled the air, as all of them paused in their inspection. Overwhelming quiet hung around us all as my target and I stared at each other, and the rest of the Royal Guard watched us do so.
"Ichibe Hyosube." I felt the tension that entered the bodies of Oh Etsu and Tenjiro, through their zanpakuto. It was fitting. People didn't just say the name of Manako Osho. The man was so powerful, with control over such a powerful domain that speaking his name aloud was an actual challenge. I felt confident that no one below the strength of a Captain could even say Manako Osho, and only the strongest Captains could say his true name without his permission. To look him dead in the eye and state not just his first name, but his full name was one of the greatest feats anyone could accomplish. "Say my name."
All of Squad Zero stared at me in shock. The Monk Who Spoke the True Name knew every name, so in isolation, it was obvious the man could complete the request. But names held power, and Ichibe was the man who could control that power. He 'knew' every name in the same way that you 'knew' everything you had ever learned. He could bring it to the forefront of his mind as soon as he focused on it. What stunned the Royal Guard was what it meant for Ichibe to call your name. Like someone picking up a glass sphere, he could see you completely, inside and out, once he spoke it. It told him everything about you, gave him the knowledge of everything that made you who you were. To ask him to do so, was again, either unfathomably stupid or crucially telling of who you were. He lifted his chin slightly as he maintained my stare, and hummed thoughtfully.
"Kurosaki Ichigo." His dark red eyes widened as soon as the last syllable left his lips. Information passed behind his eyes, knowledge of years and events that did not exist. As well as one pivotal piece of information: the reason why I was here today. "Squad Zero, step down. This man and the group he brings with him are not threats to the Soul King." Kirio and Senjumaru swiftly relaxed their stances, and Tenjiro brought back Kinpika to rest it on his shoulder. Oh Etsu offered a weak apologetic smile and slipped Sayafushi from my lung. Since there was nothing but a pair of thin slits from the incredibly sharp blade, my lung healed incredibly quickly.
"You're good to come out now!" I called over my left shoulder.
"I recognize the Shiba rocket." Tenjiro grimaced at me. "But that doesn't explain how you got past the barriers. That doesn't give free access to the Royal Palace."
"That doesn't." Senjumaru breezed around me, inspecting me from all angles. "But his clothes do. They are made from my Shigarami, and infused with Oken. How? I have never made clothes for you, and I do not forget who I allow to wear my fabrics."
"You have not made clothes for Ichigo." Ichibe pulled the attention of the rest of his Squad. "At least, not in this time. As you are so excited for, Ichigo, no Quincy can see into the Royal Palace. There is no need to censor your words or restrain your actions." I smiled widely.
"I am a time-traveler." I informed the Four Divine Generals. "I'm from a time where Yhwach and his Wandenreich have successfully attacked and killed the Soul King." I held up one of my arms for the Great Weaver. "I'm wearing Oken clothing made by Senjumaru to protect me from my enemies, and made to regenerate to protect me from her." Her immaculately done eyes blinked and she practically teleported up to my raised sleeve, her golden arms inspecting every fiber.
"I see…" She hummed with interest. "It would seem this future version of myself imbued this fabric with the ability to absorb reiatsu and use that to repair itself. I should apply that to the next iteration of the Royal Guard uniforms. Perhaps it will mean Nimaya-san will interrupt me for minor repairs less."
"Sorry, Sorry, Senji-chan!" The zanpakuto creator was positively unapologetic. "I just get so absorbed when I'm making zanpakuto that I don't realize the sparks are burning my clothes, ya know!"
"Then forge your swords in the nude. Stop ruining the clothes I make." The woman glared, all of her arms aiming needles at the man threateningly.
"Now, now, no need to argue and bicker amongst yourselves." Ichibe held up his hands placatively. "We have guests to entertain right now, after all."
"This ain't some sort of resort for a group of Shinigami to play around in." Tenjiro shifted his toothpick around in his mouth.
"I didn't say it was!" The bald monk smiled. "But Ichigo and I have some important business to get to, business none of you will be able to be around for." Since only Unohana and Yoruichi knew the reason for this trip, Renji, Rukia, and the rest of the Zero Squad all turned surprised.
"Is it related to the Quincy?" Rukia tentatively asked, uncertain about whether she was allowed to speak up.
"Oh, no, nothing quite so serious!" The monk chuckled. "Ichigo simply needs to relieve some stress, so he and I will be sparring."
"We can't watch?" Renji dumbly asked, slight disappointment in his tone.
"Of course you can!" Ichibe supplied. "I was about to ask Senjumaru-chan to take you all into her Palace so that you may observe using her observation equipment."
"Just the release of Ichigo's Bankai is powerful enough to blow even Yamamoto-soutaicho back." Unohana informed. "Whenever the two of them sparred, Yoruichi-chan and I were expressly barred from being inside the Muken until they were done." At the medic's words, Ichibe smiled ominously but kept silent.
"I do not mind the presence of four Gotei 13 members in my Palace so long as they mind themselves." Senjumaru accepted.
"Are we using the usual travel method?" I asked the leader of the Royal Guard.
"They are. You will follow me to a special arena I have set aside for the purpose of training a new Soul King." He lightly corrected. Realizing that the group was about to split, I nodded. I stepped up to my group and started taking off my armor.
"Why are you stripping?" Renji blinked as I handed my harness to Yoruichi.
"Because I can't wear black against Ichibe." I explained as I took off my coat.
"Why can't you wear black against-" Rukia gagged and clutched at her throat as the title twisted inside of her mouth. "Osho-taicho." She sucked in a frightened breath. "What the hell was that?!"
"Each of the Royal Guard have made foundational aspects to the Gotei 13." Unohana announced as she folded my coat in her hands. "Manako Osho is the man who has given names to everything in the Soul Society. His domain is in names themselves. His true name is so powerful, the average person cannot speak it. If he permitted me, I am confident I could say it, but only with that allowance."
"You can only say it…" Rukia's eyes widened as she and Renji turned to me in shock. "…If he lets you?"
"Yamamoto and I are probably the only ones in the Soul Society who could call him by his name on our own, though he's got the full capability of removing our ability to speak if he thinks we're misusing it." I confirmed as I slipped off my shihakusho.
"That's…terrifying, but doesn't answer our question." The Lieutenant of the 6th pushed.
"Ichibe Hyosube has complete dominion over names, as well as the means to name. As an extension of his power, he has control over the color black itself." I finished as I removed the outer layer of my hakama, leaving me only in the white inner layer with my zanpakuto in my hand.
"And you're going to spar with someone with a power like that?!" Both Lieutenants shrieked.
"He's the only being I don't have to worry about killing." I answered calmly. All four of the Gotei Shinigami stared at me in disbelief.
I stood across from Ichibe in the center of a massive circular wooden platform. It was the same aesthetic as the rest of the Royal Realm, with moderately sized white pillars lining the edge of the circular platform far into the distance. The entire arena reeked of reiatsu, and I figured Ichibe had decked the entire place in dozens of spells to maximize its durability. If he spoke the truth, it was made to withstand the power a Soul King candidate could put out, and I trusted that it could. We had flown to get here, blasting off at ridiculous speeds until the Royal Palace was but a dot on the horizon. I knew that my friends and the rest of Squad Zero were holed up in Senjumaru's Palace, watching through whatever means of observation she used for the Royal Realm. My sparring partner had not changed for our spar, though he naturally did not possess the concern I did. I was the only one who had to be conscious of an entire color while fighting my opponent. Ichimonji was in his hand, the brush tip dressed in ink like always. In response, I took a step forward and held out my blade, looking him in the eye. Humming with interest, he matched my step and held out his zanpakuto as well, positioning it so that the points of our weapons barely passed each other.
"Considering your intent here today is to relax, I'd suggest you let go of your reiatsu." The monk offered. My eyes widened, as I was so accustomed to keeping it reigned in that I forgot it was an option.
"…Are you sure?" The worry made me pause. "There won't be any consequences to it?"
"The only ones who would understand it would be those who have felt your reiatsu before." He soothed. Appreciating the appeal to my logic, I smiled softly and closed my eyes. Control had been beaten into me, by Kirio's motherly touch and Tenjiro's unforgiving fist. It was past thoughtless and reached into the realm where I almost forgot how to not control my reiatsu. I hadn't done it long enough that I could compare to Shinigami who kept their power under lock and key for centuries, if not millennia. But, it did make me wonder if there existed a Shinigami who was so accustomed to it that they truly couldn't relax their hold.
Returning my focus to the proper topic, I drew in a slow breath. As I did so, I reached deeply into myself, seeking out my reiatsu. It responded instantly, rising up to greet my call, but it did not overflow out of my hold. I attempted to forcefully expand it, prod it into bursting out as it had done when I was first starting out. Unfortunately, it only swelled at my order. I released the breath slowly, deciding to work off that for now. As I exhaled, I continued to have my reiatsu swell, and I soon felt that the wood beneath mine and Ichibe's feet began to groan and tremble. Drawing in another breath, I continued to match the expansion of my reiatsu to my breathing, and it soon overwhelmed the immense reiatsu that thickened the air of the Royal Realm. Once I reached the capacity of my lungs, I exhaled once more, continuing to expand my reiatsu. A deep rumble slowly reached my ears, growing louder by the moment. I did not pause, as I knew it was my reiatsu causing the realm itself to shake and shudder.
It was on the third round of breathing that my reiatsu finally slipped from me, and I could feel the havoc it caused on all the realms from where I stood. The air shuddered and rippled, the ground trembled and cracked, the oceans grew more tumultuous, and I doubted there was a single soul that could remain standing under the overwhelming pressure. Even the titan of power before me visibly tensed his body to keep from being moved. I had no doubt that only the other members of Squad Zero were even capable of moving at the moment. A relieved sigh left me as the stifling block I had simply gotten used to was removed. The wind roiled and writhed, tearing about with the force to rend steel. The arena we stood in vibrated and mildly warped despite the enchantments placed into it. My body felt lighter due to the lack of internal pressure. I opened my eyes to meet Ichibe's gaze, who silently nodded in encouragement. Drawing in one more breath, I let my following statement whisper out from me powerfully.
"Bankai."
Inside Senjumaru's Palace, the watching Shinigami were all floored, both literally and figuratively. Rukia and Renji were completely flattened, the adopted Kuchiki utterly helpless as she drooled on the floor. The duo had already faced difficulty merely residing within the realm, breathing heavier and having slightly sluggish movements. When Ichigo slammed the full force of his reiatsu upon them, they couldn't have done anything to defend against it. Yoruichi and Unohana were similarly on the floor, but they retained the ability to shift and move, the medic panting heavily for reasons completely separate from the pressure upon her. Only the Squad Zero members could keep themselves up, and only then in kneeling positions. Tenjiro was heavily leaning against his zanpakuto, gritting his teeth as he did his best to push himself into a stand. Kirio was on her hands and knees, exerting her reiatsu to relieve any of the pressure from her body. Senjumaru herself was keeping herself aloft with her many mechanical arms, though those were creaking and groaning. Oh Etsu was lying flat on his back, spread eagle, with a wide smile tearing his face in two.
"Go! Ichi! Go!" He cheered. The sword master flailed his limbs happily, creating the image that he was trying to create a snow angel without the required snow.
"Would ya shut your trap?" Tenjiro hissed through his teeth. "Stop getting all excited about the brat."
"When that brat's got a soul like perfectly forged steel? I think hell no!" The blacksmith refused. "That kid's got a bond with his zanpakuto so close you can't tell 'em apart! I've seen Shinigami that treat their zanpakuto like a broke-ass hunk of junkyard scrap all the way to Shinigami that polish their blades every morning and night! Not one of them is one with their blade like Go-Ichi is! I just can't keep that kinda hype in, ya feel me?!" The Great Weaver shifted to look over at the sunglasses-wearing man.
"What do you mean?" She asked. "Are you saying he is completely fused with his zanpakuto?" A manic, toothy grin split Oh Etsu's face.
"Zangetsu is the zanpakuto of the hybrid Kurosaki Ichigo. It is a reflection of his soul, a perfectly harmonized mix of Quincy, Hollow, and Shinigami. Go-Ichi is the Shinigami, his buddy Shiro is the Hollow, and that so-called Ossan is the Quincy. You take any of 'em outta that equation, and you ain't got Zangetsu no more! Go-Ichi is his zanpakuto as much as his zanpakuto is part of him!" The Blade God giggled. "Even for each of us Zero Squad, we've got that distinguishment between ourselves and our zanpakuto, but that kid over there doesn't. I was lowkey trippin out earlier cuz I couldn't find his zanpakuto in his soul, and it only hit me just now when he entered Bankai why! It's because, even in a sealed state, his zanpakuto is completely melded with his soul!"
"Even you don't hold as close a relationship with your zanpakuto?" Kirio gaped.
"Are you kidding? Of course not!" Oh Etsu rejected the very notion. "I'm The Blade God! I can use or forge any zanpakuto that will ever exist! Why do you think all of my hunnies hate me? It's cuz I'm a zanpakuto pimp! That's like asking the guy with a million girls on the side to stay loyal to you! How can you trust that?!"
"Ichigo…" Yoruichi panted to catch her breath. "Always was one-of-a-kind…"
"I'm shakin with excitement right now!" The blacksmith wiggled to emphasize his words. "This is gonna be the craziest clash of titans in the whole-ass world!"
"Tensa Zangetsu." Breathed out from me as the hurricane ended. Crossing along Ichimonji was now the great blade of my Bankai, chain whipping about happily. My reiatsu was still unleashed, but it had once more ascended to beyond standard comprehension. It was highly likely that Ichibe, Yhwach, and the Soul King himself were the only ones who could feel my reiatsu at the moment. While my opponent had not called out any release command, I knew it was not because he had not released his blade. The Monk Who Called the True Name, above all others, did not need to verbally release his zanpakuto. He could invoke the power of his weapon through thinking of its name alone.
"You are here to relax." Ichibe stated, still staring at me. "Let go." A grateful smile rose onto my face, relief spreading through me at the direct encouragement. I kept that expression, as I stepped forward with my wrist twisting upwards and my blade swinging up to split his skull in two. My left hand reaching out to latch onto the hilt of my sword, I swiped left, knocking away the paintbrush that attempted to coat the outside of my arm in its ink. Continuing the swipe, I whirled around, stomping forward with my left food halfway through to unleash a heavy horizontal slash at the Monk. Despite having just knocked away his weapon, he blocked the strike with his brush. The sheer force of my swing, however, still blew him back, sending him straight off his feet with gale-force winds following after him. As he flew, he swung at me, a massive swipe of black ink flowing out from the brush.
Without hesitation, I shifted my stance and countered the attack with an unnamed Getsuga. Even nameless, it was a tidal wave of destructive violet energy. With ease, it blasted apart the swath of ink and continued its charge for Ichibe himself. A gigantic phantom palm slammed into the Getsuga before it could connect and annihilated the wave. My eyes widened and I quickly stabbed Tensa Zangetsu into the wood a moment before the unrelenting force from the palm struck me. Even coating my body with reiatsu and tying my feet to the arena using threads of reishi, it still rocked me back several feet. Though, that still was a negligible effect considering the technique was meant to blast me over 2400 miles. He came down upon me like a meteor, and I met his downward swing with a roaring skyward strike that ripped up some of the wood. We collided with enough physical force that it created a whirlwind powerful enough to uproot entire houses. Beneath me, the wood came alive, snapping my attention to it. Once I saw that it did naught but restore itself to perfect condition, I realized my mistake.
"Hado 4: Byakurai!" A blur of Shunido zipped me to the right and out of the way of the monstrously powerful blast of lightning. It was far larger than any other Byakurai I had ever seen, far larger than any other Shinigami could pull off. Normally, I would hardly blink at most kido spells, let alone one of such low level, but spells cast by the Monk were in a different category altogether. Evidenced by the fact that even the heavily enchanted arena burned, flaked away, and ruptured from the blast. This time, I ignored it as the wood writhed to fix itself, sliding to a stop and twisting with violet reiatsu curling out from my blade.
"Getsuga Tensho!" My shout was paired with my blade slamming down onto the wood, unleashing a wall of destruction at my opponent. He dodged to the right and came at me with his left palm pulled back. Shifting with ease, I swiped outwardly, my blade still emanating reiatsu.
"Cero Regen!" I barked. A bastardization of Starrk's infamous Cero Metralleta peeled out from my Bankai, hundreds of shopping-mall-sized beams firing out from the edge. Ichibe disappeared behind the barrage, though his response was clear as a phantom foot the size of a garage slammed down upon me from above. I felt the bones in my body crack and shatter as my organs ruptured. My attempt to plant my feet to keep standing resulted only in my shins obliterating under the force and forcing my torso to crash into the wood. Violet coated my blade and detonated, tearing apart the arena and countering the force of Ichibe's technique. As soon as the pressure was off me, I was back in perfect condition and darting around. Staying still would allow him to set up more traps and spells. A flash of white caught my eye and I locked onto it. The Monk was in the wreckage caused by my Cero Regen, the word 'Barrier' written into the air to protect him. An understanding frown was upon his face. Finding it irritated me, I mixed all three speed techniques to practically teleport into his face with Tensa Zangetsu halfway to his skull. Unnaturally black reiatsu seared from his body as my blade struck him, dozens of kanji flashing over his skin. Right before he was blown back once more, I caught that they all said 'protection'.
I chased after him, watching him correct himself with ease, likely due to the 'protection'. Before I could close in enough, he began swiping wildly with Ichimonji, sending swathes of ink in my direction. Focusing, I ducked under the first, then shifted to the left of the second. I rose above the third, then tightened my hold on my Bankai and sent out a nameless flurry of violet arrows to blast apart the fourth. My opponent touched a foot to the platform beneath us, and I snapped down in turn. Kicking toward Ichibe, I sent out a downward slash that the Monk sidestepped out of the way of. With him now at my right side, I shifted my arms to swing out the great blade horizontally, the shaft of his brush angling downward to catch the edge before his body did. Another burst of wind tore out from the collision, a ripple tearing through the wood to send splinters and shards into the air. I pushed, something my opponent took advantage of as he spun back, causing me to overextend and be left off balance as he brought his zanpakuto above his head. My eyes widened as I saw the ink come down, and I pushed from my toes to throw my body forward into a roll.
Coming up with reiatsu swirling out from my form, I swung in the direction of Ichibe with a nameless Getsuga tearing out. He jumped above the wave that crushed the arena beneath it, then bounced off the air to dodge to the left of my following vertical arc of energy. The bald man threw himself to the right while still in the air to evade the next fang of destruction, splashing out a lake's worth of ink at me in the process. Raising Tensa Zangetsu above my head, I roared as I swung down.
"Getsuga Tensho!" A torrent of reiatsu flowed from the path of my strike, tearing forward and easily annihilating the ink. Rather than be daunted by the attack roaring towards him, the Monk wove his brush through the air, quickly signing a word into existence. 'Barrier' flashed powerfully, right before my Getsuga crashed against it like a tumultuous ocean against a rock. The reiatsu split apart in the face of 'barrier' and harmlessly continued at either side of the leader of the Royal Guard. Because of the sheer power of my attack, I didn't realize what the Monk was doing until it was too late.
"Hado 88: Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho!" My eyes widening at the high-level spell, I immediately twisted my wrists to bring my Bankai back up.
"Cero!" Ichibe's sapphire blast collided heavily with my violet beam, the struggle of power lighting up the arena a mix of blue and purple. Wind whipped about from the force, screaming away as the energies fought. The wood of the arena, layer by layer, crumbled and fractured from the sheer power being released. Gritting my teeth, I shouted incoherently as I poured more reiatsu into the Hollow technique, pushing back the kido spell until my opponent surrendered the clash. As soon as the resistance disappeared, the attack shot off into the distance, causing the sky itself to tint a light shade of violet.
Hunting around with my eyes, I saw the Monk flying at me from low to the ground. I stood with my blade ready and allowed him to collide with me directly, his strength great but not enough to push me back. Careful of the head of his brush, I engaged in a bout of swordplay with the foundational Shinigami. Each time he brought around his zanpakuto, I deflected it away from myself, unerringly watchful of the path the ink flew in. Four, then five clashes occurred, before I saw an opportunity and stabbed with my massive blade. The bald man let go of his weapon with one hand and grabbed the tip of my Bankai. With a shout of his own, he lifted me by his grip on my weapon and threw me away. As I tumbled through the air, I hissed and unleashed a wild frenzy of Getsugas, tearing apart everything in my vicinity as I regained control of myself. Landing in a crouch, I found his position quickly to see him painting a new kanji into the air.
Snarling, I flew toward him. My muscles flexed as I swung at him again, the leader of the Zero Squad managing to bring Ichimonji up to block the attack. The strength behind my swing was enough to push the shaft of his zanpakuto into his chest before he was launched back like a pinball. A deep, deafening boom reverberated through the arena as he broke the sound barrier. Ichibe successfully righted himself and slammed his feet down to slow himself, but it only carved trenches into the floor as his sandals blew apart. I was in his face once more with another horizontal swing, and he succeeded once more at bringing his zanpakuto around. It was not a defensive action this time, however, as he met my strike with righteous force. There was another cataclysmic eruption of wind that tore apart the wood around us and whipped at our clothes. However, I stomped forward and roared as I twisted my hips, putting forth more power into the strike to win the clash. The Monk was blown back yet again, though I did not permit him the time to collect himself.
Another snap of Hirenshunido had me on top of him. Growling animalistically, I brought my Bankai over my head and allowed a torrent of reiatsu to burst out from it. Just as I brought it down, I saw him quickly snap his palm up, the phantom limb appearing rapidly.
"Getsuga Cero!" I unleashed, the fist of mystical physical force colliding with a heaven-shattering geyser of power. The struggle between the two invoked a bellowing roar that could rupture eardrums. The deciding factor was Ichibe, taking advantage of his free hand to cast a spell.
"Hado 32: Okasen!" The unnaturally more powerful yellow burst, as empowered by being invoked by Ichibe, supported his Tsutensho to overpower my Getsuga Cero. The mixed attack blew back at me, sending me tumbling through the air despite my Blut Hierro preventing me from taking damage. "I shouldn't be able to overpower any of your hybrid attacks, Ichigo!" The man shouted while I still flew through the air. "You're still shackled by your fear!"
"I know that!" I spat back angrily as I solidified reiatsu to stand on. "What do you think I'm trying to do?!"
"We both know why you chose me, Great Shatterer of Fate!" Ichibe called. "Why you could not choose any other opponent! Let Go, Ichigo!" The bald man launched himself at me at the same time that I kicked off toward him. Brush collided with blade, ink splashing from the bristles that I had to duck underneath. Indignant rage filled my body as I enhanced my zanpakuto with reiatsu, violet coating Tensa Zangetsu as Ichibe was once again knocked back. He was stable, however, staring me dead in the eye as he flew back. Growling, I punched a Bala at him, the disc of reiatsu snapping through the air to pound into him faster than he could blink. His fall accelerated, shooting him into the arena once more.
"It was not because of my strength that you sought me out!" He continued to lecture through the cloud of dust that had been kicked up from his landing. "It was not because of the variety of my abilities!" A nameless kido spell burst out from the cloud at me, and I swung my blade, still coated in reiatsu, to cut it apart. I chased down, bringing my Bankai over my head once more before slamming it into the center of the cloud. It shattered freshly reformed wood and blasted the dust away. "It was not because of how dangerous of a combatant I am!" Ichibe continued as he darted about, blasting more nameless kido spells that I could deflect or obliterate with my blade. With each strike I blocked, the reiatsu coating my sword grew, my emotions building with his words.
"We both know the reason I am your only choice!" He shouted. "Do what you came here to do! Fulfill the purpose of this journey! Unleash your strength against the only opponent who can still be standing by the end! Vent out your frustrations in the battle you have been seeking since you arrived! Lose yourself in the bloodlust you have been forced to reign in!" The leader of the Royal Guard disappeared in flashstep, my instincts warning me of a threat from behind.
"Abandon Your Fear, Ichigo!" The Monk's utterance of my zanpakuto's words was the straw that broke the camel's back. My fingers tightened on the hilt of Tensa Zangetsu until my knuckles popped. My veins pulsed and my muscles flexed. With a great howl, I twisted my body, throwing my blade around with everything I had.
"GETSUGA TENSHO!" Ripped from my throat, violet reiatsu following the wake of my slash with the mass of an ocean. My power, unleashed without any reservations, crashed forward with the power to pierce the heavens. So immense was its might that it darkened the sky and turned it violet, capable of being seen even from the Soul Society far below us. The sound of it tearing through the air was horrific and monstrous, the bloodthirsty howl of a beast capable of shattering fate. My gaze was locked onto the sight before me, of Ichibe being struck dead-on by the cataclysmic strike. My eyes were wide, panic shooting through me as I watched the leader of the Zero Squad, the Monk who named everything in the world, the esoteric behemoth of peerless power evaporated upon being struck. The entire half of the arena that was in the direction I was facing disintegrated along with him, but my attention wasn't on that.
Cold terror gripped me as I stood there, wood chips still flying past me from the sheer power of the attack, my Bankai blade still outstretched. A frightened gulp choked my throat for a moment, as I shakily wet my lips. Anxieties fluttered through me and doubts spiked across my body. Rattling chain sounded through the air as I lowered my zanpakuto, my stance remaining stiff and unable to relax. Too much fear, too much anxiety, too much adrenaline. My head slowly sank, my eyes closing as I focused on my breathing to calm myself down.
Disgusting anxiety trembled through me. Revolting terror locked my body. Fear coursed in my veins, and I drew in a deep breath.
Back in Senjumaru's Palace, the watching Shinigami all stared in horror and shock. Once Ichigo entered Bankai, the oppressive weight of his reiatsu disappeared. Kirio had been the one to confirm that was not due to Ichigo reigning it back in, but it reaching a point that they could not perceive it anymore. The following combat had been exactly as Oh Etsu prophesized, a clash of not mere titans, but practical gods. Yoruichi and Unohana, who had believed they understood the strength of Tensa Zangetsu, were the ones most floored by the sights shown on the screen. Every attack resulting in cataclysm, so devastating that they felt the tremors and wind from even inside the weaver's Palace so far away. The Shinigami from the Gotei had all paled upon seeing the destructive might of Osho's Byakurai, more powerful than the strongest Hado Unohana could cast. Tenjiro's disbelieving gasp of how the Monk's Tsutenshos were meant to blanketly push whatever it struck 1000 ri shook the Lieutenants to their cores. Even the Squad Zero members had paled when Osho went on his challenging monologue about how the hybrid was still holding back despite fighting at a level where he was effectively a match for the ancient being.
Then they all witnessed the time traveler disintegrate the foundational Shinigami. The adopted Kuchiki lost all strength in her legs and faintly collapsed onto her bottom, barely catching herself with her hands. Renji stood stock still, staring unblinkingly at the screen, and the image upon it displaying Ichigo standing at the edge of an obliterated arena. Yoruichi's heart sank, her mind unable to consider the universal complications that just arose in favor of focusing on the despair the hybrid must be feeling at even the all-powerful Osho being insufficient. Unohana was unable to tear her gaze away from where the leader of the Royal Guard had been on the screen just a moment ago, in complete awe over Ichigo's strength being so great that he could accomplish such a feat.
The Zero Squad were hardly any different in their reactions. Kirio was standing with her hands over her open mouth, her zanpakuto having been forgotten to fall on the floor as tears beaded in the corners of her eyes. Tenjiro's toothpick had slipped out from his mouth, his head shaking incredulously as he took incredibly meticulous slow steps back. Oh Etsu had turned into a cackling mess, howling with ecstatic laughter and whooping around the room as he practically bounced off the walls. The Blade God demonstrated no concern for his superior, lost in his euphoria of witnessing such a 'goated' display from Ichigo.
Then the Great Weaver sucked in a gasp and retreated a step. The action attracted everyone else's attention. They all watched, her eyes widening and her pupils contracting to pinpricks as horrified disbelief overcame her features. A clatter echoed in the room as her golden arms let go of her needle in shock and caused it to fall to the ground.
"That can't be…" The woman muttered. "This must be impossible!"
"What did you figure out, Senjumaru-san?" Kirio pushed, one of her hands still held in front of her mouth.
"Kurosaki's words before we separated." The seamstress breathed. "His parting comment about what he felt of Osho. 'He's the only being he doesn't have to worry about killing'. Kurosaki wasn't saying that Osho was powerful enough he did not have to be concerned about accidentally killing his opponent. He was referring to the fact that, because of Osho's unique powers, it doesn't matter if he does kill him!"
I felt a light tugging on my consciousness. A formless whisper, an inviting urge. A call that pushed me to perform a specific action. Say a specific name. My lips curled up, maniacal and bloodthirsty, yet tempered with analytical thoughtfulness. My grip on Tensa Zangetsu, which had loosened slightly out of dread, tightened once more, this time with confidence and reaffirmment. With excitement and eagerness. With relief and boundless joy. My head shot up as my reiatsu flared, erupting out of me as a savage grin ripped across my face. My stance fixed itself and my zanpakuto's chain whipped about joyfully as I abandoned my fear.
"ICHIBE HYOSUBE!" I invited, feeling a pinch on my reiatsu as a small portion was siphoned off. Pesquisa informed me of a body closing in from behind, and this time there was no hesitation as my blade flooded with violet. A whirlpool of roiling reiatsu erupted from me as I spun around with a horizontal slash for my opponent. Unlike every instance so far, the Monk didn't even try to block it. Instead, he soared straight over my head as my next nameless Getsuga annihilated the other half of the arena, just as the first half finished knitting itself back together. Still pouring reiatsu out of my blade like a world-rending water hose, I continued the motion, spinning around completely. Ichibe was facing me, his palm thrusting towards me with his Tsutensho hand halfway to hitting me. I didn't hesitate, stomping my right foot into the wood as I finished twisting to meet the technique with my own.
The collision of attacks sent shockwaves coursing through the arena, and it blasted back my opponent. My eyes focused on his form, and I lunged to the side of the path of the Tsutensho. It pounded against the wood where I had just been standing, leaving a deep imprint of a palm in the grain. I ignored the sound of the arena restoring itself as I used my combined speed technique to effectively teleport in front of the Monk. Every moment I wasn't actively clashing against him was a moment he could be setting up more traps or casting spells. A power like his had endless potential, and worse, could be used in ways that could sidestep my abilities.
It was perfect. It forced me to take the fight seriously. It meant that no matter what I did, I had to perpetually be on guard against him. A moment of inattentiveness would have me soaked with ink. The esoteric nature of his abilities meant that he could attack straight through my Blut Hierro. And he had countless ways to evade my attacks.
Just as I swung at him, he shot forward a hand with his first two fingers pointed up and his thumb curled in so that the tip touched the second knuckle of his ring finger. I leaned to the right to dodge, but wasn't fast enough, a blast of distorted air striking my left shoulder and causing it to twist into itself until my shoulder ripped itself from both my torso and bicep. My left arm, now separated from me, turned limp and fell from Tensa Zangetsu, but it didn't stop me. My unbalanced swing was easily backstepped from, but I simply allowed my grip to slip from the hilt.
I tightened my fingers around the chain at the back of the blade, before spinning around wildly. The added chaos of performing attacks by the chain forced Ichibe to remain on the backstep. Curling and twisting in a way that made the Hollow aspect of myself smile proudly, I became an unhinged spiral of death. That I kept alternating which hand I held the chain in only added more factors to the whirlwind of metal. In a panic, the Monk was forced to spin his brush around, blocking and deflecting the wild blade as I flung it about. But each deflection he made was only something I used to boost the fighting style, adding to the momentum to continue whipping about. Catching on quickly, he deflected my Bankai into the floor, but I just pulled myself using it as an anchor to pound a kick into the center of his chest, feeling something crack underneath my heel before he was blown back with a shockwave. Once I touched the arena again, I tugged on the chain to rip it out of the wood and hurled the massive weapon after the Monk.
He batted the blade aside with his brush, a victorious grin on his face as he watched me charge in barehanded. His own bare feet landed on the arena and he slammed the butt of his zanpakuto into the wood, splitting it apart so that his brush stood upright. The founding Shinigami's crimson eyes gleamed as he relinquished his hold on his weapon and tightened his hands into fists. A savage grin pulled at my face as I threw a right haymaker. He stepped outside the strike and crashed his left fist against my head. Without flinching, I brought up my right arm to bat his left arm outward as my left fist swung toward him. He blocked it with his right arm, but unlike me, his feet slid along the ground a good two feet from the power behind it. Paying it no mind, he and I swung at each other simultaneously, our fists connecting and tearing another wave of force from the collision. Both of our hands broke, but mine fixed itself even as the fractures formed while he flexed his into place.
The next roar that filled the air was from both of us. Taking a risk, Acero covered my right arm up to the elbow as I unleashed a heavy swing, and he backpedaled rather than trying to take control of the black essence. My fist ended up hitting the wood and blowing the floor apart in a radius the size of a parking lot. The rest of the arena groaned and trembled as we both continued moving, myself forward and my opponent back. Playing it safe, I allowed the Acero to fade from my right arm as I attacked with my left, keeping it only to whichever limb I was using. There was another earth-shaking punch that blew another hole into the floor, then a drop kick that failed to hit him once again. I kicked off using that leg and swiped at him with my other foot, but he ducked under it, a gale of wind blowing about in the wake of the missed attack. Clenching my right fist, I twisted around to swing the back of that hand at the Monk.
Again, he backpedaled out of its range, causing my fist to crash into the floor, but crimson eyes widened when he saw that a piece of wood which had been kicked up was cut in two by seemingly nothing. The rattling of a chain was his only other warning before Tensa Zangetsu flew through the air. He didn't piece it together quick enough, and the gargantuan blade sliced into the meat between his right shoulder and collarbone. It carved straight through him, escaping his body out his left hip. As the light faded from his eyes once again, his gaze was locked onto the thread of reishi connecting my right hand to the hilt of my Bankai.
"Ichibe Hyosube!" Called from me a second time, and the same pinch on my reiatsu occurred.
"Hado 99: Goryutenmetsu!" Roared from behind me immediately. Before I could react, the jaws of a dragon made of energy enclosed around my body as it rushed forward. My head, right arm, and right lower leg were all that hung outside of its mouth as it whipped around, and I saw four other heads curling through the air, hungrily waiting for their opportunities to snatch me up. My hand splayed open as I willed the thread of reishi to contract, calling Tensa Zangetsu to me. At the same time, I allowed Acero to envelop my left fist as I began beating it against the roof of the dragon's mouth. It survived the first blow with a tremor that reverberated through the entire head and neck, invoking a snarl from the beast. The second caused its jaw to loosen for half a second, and some of the energy scales to fracture off of it as cracks spread from where I struck it. The third caused the dragon to explode into pieces, freeing my body. I continued flying through the air without control for a moment as my Bankai returned to my hand. One of the heads saw it as an opportunity as it roared toward me, its mouth open wide and teeth sharp. Responding with my own roar, I fixed myself and swung my sword at it, firing a Cero at the construct. It was blasted apart by the beam, and the third head took the chance to bite down on my blade once my arm was fully extended. Acero still cloaking my left hand, I brought it back before punching the dragon's throat, amplifying the hit with a point-blank Bala. It shattered like the first.
The fourth head came from behind to bite down on my left leg, tearing past me with enough power that someone less durable would have had their leg ripped off. Instead, my body bounced against the side of its head from the sudden wind pressure. Collecting myself quickly, I cleaved its head off with my zanpakuto, and sought out the final dragon. It howled defiantly at me as it simply went for the straightforward approach, coming at me head on. Smirking, I waited for it, and once it was close enough, snapped my foot down while raising my left hand. I successfully caught its teeth and locked its mouth in an open position, which I then took advantage of by wreathing my blade in reiatsu and launching it down its gullet. I slid to a stop mid-air and hunted around for Ichibe.
"Shiju Saimon!" My eyes widened as the large Bakudo formed around me. It was both an impressive feat and telling of Ichibe's abilities that he did not need to call the four prerequisite Bakudo before casting the combined spell. The prison-like barrier simply manifested on its own, undoubtedly leagues more powerful due to the Monk being the caster than any other kido master could after casting the chain of spells to completion. I turned my eyes to my opponent and saw him standing at the ready, his brush up in preparation to write another kanji into existence. It was that preparation which tipped me off.
The man who knew that my Bankai at its strongest possessed attacks he simply couldn't overpower would also know that there was no Bakudo I couldn't obliterate with ease. He knew even better than myself how greatly kido spells were amplified in power when cast by him, and yet he himself stated that he knew no Hado spell could beat out an attack of mine. Ichibe should be using every moment he could wrench out casting more spells, setting up more traps, and writing out more words using his power. That he stood there and waited meant there already was something ready to activate the instant I shattered the Bakudo. I wasn't nearly enough of a master to be able to discern distortions in the reishi making up the barrier, so I would not be able to figure out what he had prepared. So I instead decided to go the route he hopefully didn't consider I would try. Lifting my Bankai blade straight up into the air with one hand, I kept my eyes on the Monk to gauge his reaction.
"Sklaverai!" By how his red eyes widened, I succeeded. As he panicked and immediately began swiping words into the air, what was likely the strongest Bakudo ever cast this timeline combusted into raw reishi and vacuumed into my Bankai. I wasn't actually gaining anything from absorbing the kido spell, as it wasn't made of nearly enough reiatsu to make a difference to me. But it prevented whatever the hidden trap was from being sprung. I channeled my reiatsu into my zanpakuto and waited to make out what word my opponent was forming. If I blindly rushed him in an attempt to stop it from being completed, I might have the full weight of the incantation hit me from not catching him quickly enough. The sign that he was done was clear, as the kanji he wrote began multiplying exponentially in the air.
'Bombardment' filled my vision, and I was grateful that I had prepared my reiatsu in advance. Flipping my Bankai around, I stabbed the point forward as each of the spawning kanji fired blasts of black reiatsu at me.
"Getsuga Regen!" I roared. A hurricane of violet projectiles erupted from my blade, tearing apart each of the black beams fired out from the kanji. To my glee, the kanji continued to multiply and spread, so I angled the flurry of empowered arrows to shoot them to pieces as they formed. As I turned in one direction to catch those on the right, the ones that spread to the left were able to strike my body. They pounded against my Blut Hierro, hardly causing any more damage than bruises, but I had to plant my feet to keep from getting knocked down. Once I was certain all of the kanji were gone, I turned to the left to take care of the rest. As soon as I changed directions, something struck me from behind, and most of my body tore apart and shattered as I was sent ragdolling away. Tensa Zangetsu having been thrown from my grip in the moment where I had turned limp, I landed on my hands and feet with Acero consuming my extremities.
'Crush' hung in the air where I had been standing, Ichibe right behind it with a smirk on his face. My own fanged grin tearing at my skin, I held out a hand and once more contracted the reishi thread still connecting my Bankai blade to myself. The chain rattled loudly as the sword flew through the air, until the hilt smoothly slid back into my grip. The eyes of myself and my opponent met, and we each charged forth. I jumped up to hold my zanpakuto above my head with both hands and crash down, the Monk shifting to my left with his brush swiping forward to cover me in its ink. Swinging my body forward, I brought up my left leg and braced my foot against the end of the brush's shaft, stopping it in its tracks. The bald man turned his left wrist, slipping his hand past the handle of his weapon to wrap his fingers around my ankle. He pulled me up and over his head, intent to slam me back down into the floor, but I had not let go of my Bankai like he hoped. Violet exploded out from my sword, consuming us both in an explosion of reiatsu.
"Hado 73: Soren Sokatsui!" Roared through the air as we both tumbled out from the blast, a moment before I was struck by a beam of lightning wider than a city block. I flew back wildly for a second, then I managed to stab down at the right time to anchor Tensa Zangetsu to the arena. My body touched down to the wood after, as the kido spell split in two, divided by the edge of my blade. My grin unerring, I brought up a hand to wipe away the sweat on my face as the blast continued. As soon as that hand returned to the hilt, I pumped reiatsu into my Bankai and swung upwards.
"Getsuga Cero!" I called out, the stream of lightning from Ichibe being instantly overwhelmed by the geyser of power from myself. I chased after the blast, following from just a step behind as it rushed forward. As soon as I cleared the kido spell, I saw the Monk standing to my right, the black on his brush having changed to white.
"Shirafude Ichimonji!" His smile was full of menace. Instincts roaring within me, I slammed my zanpakuto into the arena beneath me.
"Getsuga Tensho!" Just like with the unnamed eruption of reiatsu when he had my ankle in his hold, we were both blasted back at high speeds from the close-range detonation. Due to my angle, I was pushed straight up, giving myself an eagle's-eye view of the sparring ground. I watched the foundational Shinigami's body soar backward, his eyes similarly following me. Grinning, I pulled back my Bankai. I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to draw blood, collected it in my mouth while the wound healed, and then spat the glob of blood onto the edge of my sword.
"Gran Rey Getsuga Tensho!" The following wave of reiatsu was apocalyptic, coming down like the heavens themselves onto the bald man. I didn't even wait for the blast to clear, already knowing the end result.
"Ichibe Hyosube!" Another pinch of reiatsu was taken from me, and I was nearly immediately rocked violently to the left as a Senri Tsutensho impacted me without anything to help me weather it. Instead, I flowed along with it, turning to the direction I was being pushed in and using its force to boost me. My instincts flared, and I banked to the left, narrowly evading a dragon of energy. Glancing back, I caught four others. Goryutenmetsu again, huh? Purple emanated from my zanpakuto as I readied to have the dragons charge at me, only for my instincts to warn me of yet another threat. I flew above another dragon rushing past me, different in its shape and green in coloration. It still turned its head toward me, puffed out its cheeks, and struck me with a powerful blast of wind almost as powerful as the Tsutensho I was still being moved by. The gust blew me back into one of the heads of Goryutenmetsu, which instantly tried to wrap me up with its body. A shout leaving me, I bashed Tensa Zangetsu against its flank and burst it apart. I was instantly battered by another kido blast, the bright red color and immense heat denoting it as Ichibe's version of Shakkaho. It angrily grinded against my side as it pushed me further along the Tsutensho's path, until I painfully collided against an invisible barrier.
"Danku, huh?!" I cackled as I chose to use it as a platform, climbing to stand sideways with my knees bent to absorb the continuous force of Ichibe's knockback technique. My back hunched against my will, as I was unable to stand straight under the unyielding power. "Come on, then!" I invited. The five remaining dragons all roared in acceptance of the challenge before spiraling through the air toward me. The emerald dragon with the swelled cheeks opened its mouth and came at me from the right while two of the Goryutenmetsu dragons came at me from above and to my left respectively. I charged for the green one as fast as I could, slowed by the unceasing force of the Tsutensho. Ripples echoed across the Danku with each step I took, the technique displaying its disapproval of how it was being used. The dragon whose charge I was meeting twirled, shifting so that it was about to enclose its jaws around me from left and right rather than up and down. Tensa Zangetsu came up vertically, and it sparked against the construct's teeth. The edge of my blade touched against the corners of the beast's mouth, and I freed one hand to grab onto one of the fangs coming from either side. With a roar of my own, I ripped my arm back, pulling the dragon forward and tearing it along my sword. Its screech of pain slammed into my face until I had cut down deep enough that it was unable to vocalize its complaints anymore. Once the cut was deep enough, I stomped forward to push the blade the rest of the way through the serpentine body.
After I had cut it completely in two, the construct shattered apart. Turning around immediately, I held my Bankai protectively in front of me to block both of the heads of Goryutenmetsu slamming into me. My heels skid along the kido barrier below until I whipped my blade around, knocking one head upward and the other to the right. Supported by the force of the Tsutensho, the one I had knocked upward was almost instantly upon me again, but I was ready with a horizontal swing that carved into its face. I would've continued until I split its skull in two, but green lasers of reiatsu zipped from out of nowhere to strike me in various places over my body. Two of them hit the right side of my ribs, which knocked me back and pulled my blade out from the wound I inflicted upon the dragon. I tumbled back along the ground as the lasers continued to pummel me, only stopping when I unleashed a massive flare of reiatsu that blew apart the beams when they attempted to strike. Looking up, I saw Ichibe coming at me with several other active kido spells flying out from him. Grinning, I returned my focus to the Goyrutenmetsu heads still trying to rip me apart, now on guard for the other kido spells to attempt to interrupt me. Instincts crying out at me, I lunged forward into a roll, one of the purple dragons soaring through where I had just been. Snapping my left hand up, I got a tight grip on the underside of its jaw and threw it down, slamming the top of its head against the Danku while throwing myself back into a stand in the process. Before the beast could even groan in pain, I flipped Tensa Zangetsu into a reverse grip and stabbed it down through the bottom of its jaw. I pierced all the way through until the tip went through the kido barrier beneath. Flooding my blade with reiatsu, I ripped it out and swung overhead, unleashing an arc of destruction in the direction of my opponent.
Without wasting a moment, I sprinted along the platform I was standing on, dodging past two strikes from the Goryutenmetsu dragons before spinning on my heel and launching my Bankai behind me. The head that had been chasing after me was pierced through its center, dispersing into energy almost instantly. Gripping my thread of reishi, I whipped my sword around, just like I had seen Shiro do a dozen times before. The spontaneous attack sliced apart the fourth dragon, though the fifth reacted before it could share the same fate. Using my blade like a demented yoyo, I pulled my arm back to draw my zanpakuto in, whipped around while it was flying toward me, and then flung my arm out in the direction the final dragon was rushing at me from. It was supremely caught off guard by the seemingly telekinetically controlled sword, and was crushed like the rest. Rather than pull it back in again, I instead ran to catch my Bankai, hearing as kido spells rained down behind me. Jumping up, I snatched the hilt, then twisted to throw out a slash of reiatsu behind me, obliterating the spells flying after me. Landing facing backwards, I slid a small amount as I looked for Ichibe.
The Monk just crashed down onto the Danku, amusement on his features. It was likely due to the idea of using Danku as a sideways platform to fight on. We rushed at each other, with me batting aside each of the low-to-mid-level kido spells he fired at me. My sword met his brush once again, but my opponent leaned closer, slipping one hand past to pound a palm strike into the center of my chest.
"Hado 1: Sho!" He cast with a shit-eating grin, before I was fired back by the physical force which struck me like a cannon shot. My ribs crumbled to dust and my lungs and heart exploded, before it all reformed an instant later. I slammed both my feet and the tip of my blade down to stop myself, and the leader of Squad Zero was upon me immediately, his brush halfway to dressing me in its ink. I spun out to the left to dodge, then spun a second time in the same direction, leaning down to grab his right ankle and pull him off his feet. The man was thrown over my head onto his back against the Danku, and before he could react, I swung my Bankai down onto him.
"Getsuga Tensho!" Both the barrier and the man who cast it obliterated underneath the power. I was flung in the direction of the barrier, as the Tsutensho similarly spontaneously dissipated, but remained long enough that it blasted me the way it had been trying the entire time. Without the continuous force being applied upon me, though, I was easily able to return to the wooden arena below.
"Ichibe Hyosube!" I cheered, the pinch of reiatsu becoming both familiar and welcomed. As both expected and extensively appreciated, the confirmation that he was alive once more was an attack being sent my way from a blind spot.
"Hado 96: Itto Kaso!" My vision was overtaken by furious red as the technique decimated the area. Despite knowing the spell sacrificed a portion of the caster's body, I knew it was not an issue for Ichibe, who likely could just conjure himself a new arm by naming it back into existence. What I was focused on was how the blast seemed to be centered on me despite that the technique was supposed to erupt from the sacrificed part of the caster's body. Either way, my body continuously ripped apart and regenerated with ease, my senses useless as the kido spell overwhelmed everything. I shot off to the right to escape the blast radius, only to crash against a bakudo barrier. There was no need to check for me to be certain that it wrapped completely around the Itto Kaso spell, if not contained it to a certain area, and I'd have grinned if my lips weren't constantly being burned away and reforming. Raising my blade with its chain rattling ecstatically, my violet reiatsu was a flash of color that disturbed the otherwise perfect cylinder of crimson I was inside of.
"Gran Rey Getsuga Tensho!" I roared as I brought down the blade with the strength to shatter fate. The Itto Kaso was instantly overwhelmed, and the bakudo I did not recognize was similarly blown apart like aluminum foil. Having sent the cataclysmic strike into the floor beneath me, the arena cried and trembled as I tore a massive hole that nearly erased the entire sparring ground. Wind screamed and shrieked as it swirled about, so powerful that the gusts broke apart the pillars lining the edge of the platform. So strong was the attack that the world remained a tinge of purple, the sky temporarily a different color entirely as everything looked covered by an incredibly obtuse movie filter. I was hardly able to take it in for longer than a moment before my opponent was upon me once more, his right hand swinging his brush for me while his left was brought back to cast a kido.
Uncontrollably, I began laughing to myself, in utter euphoria as the fight continued. My own violet reiatsu hung in the air, transforming the sky with every swing of my sword. It would have been impossible to breathe had the energy saturating the environment not been mine. Both Ichibe and myself flew across the arena at ridiculous speeds, obliterating every section of it we clashed in. The ultimate overwhelming force, enough unstoppable power to shatter fate itself, against the esoteric and ephemeral dominion over names and all things black. Every literal heavens-shaking blow unleashed that killed the Monk was met by some unnatural distortion of reality which would have killed me had it not been for my instant regeneration. We crashed and collided, rumbled and shattered, crushed and rent without hesitation or reservation. A mad grin was upon the face of the leader of the Zero Squad, portraying that even he was finding enjoyment in this battle.
It was heavenly, all concerns of the Blood War were wiped from my mind as I needed only to focus on the actions of my opponent. Doubts about The Plan were absent from my consciousness as I steadfastly did everything I could to not be splashed by ink. It was not any of the shadows in the Royal Palace that I paid attention to, but the way my muscles burned as I fought with everything I had. By this point, the smile upon my face was hurting my cheeks, and it was an ache I reveled in.
Tensa Zangetsu clashed against Shirafude Ichimonji, as my eyes remained locked onto Ichibe Hyosube's. Our grins were equally wide, equally fanged, equally focused on nothing other than each other. Our respective reiatsu flared, mine purple and his unnatural black, as we shouted in unison. We jumped back, readied our zanpakuto, and swung forward in unison.
"Gran Rey Getsuga Regen!"
"All the Black in this world, answer to me! Absolute Destruction!" The collision of our attacks annihilated the arena into nothing.
Hours later, we returned to the Royal Palace, meeting everyone at Senjumaru's Palace. Oh Etsu had rushed forward faster than any of the others, a crazed smile tearing at his face as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug and picked me up. I blinked uncomprehendingly as he spun me around, cheering the whole time.
"That was the sickest fight I've ever seen, yo!" He gushed. "I ain't ever seen somebody that can throw down with Osho, let alone be the one throwin' him down! That is some GOATED shit if I've ever seen it!" Senjumaru and Tenjiro lingered at the back of the room, each clearly wary of me for their own reasons. Kirio was by Renji and Rukia, talking with them. From the wide-eyed looks on the lieutenants' faces, I figured she was comforting them in some way. As soon as Oh Etsu let me down and released me from his hug, Yoruichi shoved him aside and took his place. I felt her purr against me as I brought up my left hand to rub her back fondly.
"How are you feeling?" Unohana asked as she stepped up, her voice gentle with a soft smile on her face. I met it with a relaxed smile of my own.
"Like I'm whole again." Breathed out from me.
I wrote this entire chapter alternating between listening to the Free Bird guitar solo and a metal cover of Stand Up Be Strong. I hope that can be felt in the text.
So, last reminder, this story is not going to be updated for a while. I will be working on it in the background, but I will not be uploading any chapters for a bit. Starting the next chapter will be the Blood War, otherwise known as the 'Enough Strength to Shatter Fate' arc for this story. As I've mentioned before, I'm going to write out all of the Blood War before posting any of it, as I will be posting ALL of it in one shot.
Next Chapter: How to Win A War